Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland (Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, abbreviated SZ RP; popularly, Wojsko Polskie, abbreviated WP—roughly, the "Polish Military") are the national armed forces of Poland. The name has been used since the early nineteenth century, but can also be applied to earlier periods.

Since 2002 for almost 12 years, until 2014 when the last troops were withdrawn, Poles as a part of Coalition Forces participated in the ISAF mission in Afganistan led by NATO. It was the largest contingent in Polish history of military operations abroad.

Polish forces took a part too in the Iraq War. From 2003 to 2008 Poles commanded the Multinational Division (MND-CS) localized in the South-Central Zone of Iraq (5 million population spread over 65 632 km²), made up of troops from 23 nations (up to 8500 soldiers).

Pursuant to the National Security Strategy of the Republic of Poland, the supreme strategic goal of the Republic of Poland is to ensure favourable and secure conditions for the realization of national interests by eliminating external and internal threats, reducing risks and rightly assessing undertaken challenges and ably using existing opportunities.[6] The Republic of Poland’s main strategic goals in the area of defence include:

ensuring independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Poland, its integrality and inviolability of its borders;

defence and protection of all the citizens of the Republic of Poland;

creating conditions to ensure continuity of implementation of functions by public administration authorities and other entities competent in the area of national security, including entities responsible for running the economy and for other areas important for the life and security of its citizens;

creating conditions for improvement of the state’s defence capabilities and ensuring defence readiness in the national and Allied structures;

developing partnership military cooperation with other states, especially neighbouring ones;

The List of Polish wars chronicles Polish military involvements since the year 972. But, the present armed forces trace their roots to the early twentieth century, yet the history of Polish armed forces in their broadest sense stretches back much further. After the partitions of Poland, during the period from 1795 until 1918, Polish military was recreated several times during national insurrections that included the November Uprising of 1830, and the January Uprising in 1863, and the Napoleonic Wars that saw the formation of the (Polish Legions in Italy). The Kingdom of Poland, ruled by the Russian Tsar with a certain degree of autonomy, had a separate Polish army in the years 1815–1830 which was disbanded after the unsuccessful insurrection. Large numbers of Poles also served in the armies of the partitioning powers, Russia, Austria-Hungary (before 1867 Austria) and Germany (before 1871 Prussia). However, these powers took care to spread Polish soldiers all over their armies and as a rule did not form predominantly Polish units.

During World War I, the Polish Legions were set up in Galicia, the southern part of Poland under Austrian occupation. They were both disbanded after the Central Powers failed to provide guarantees of Polish independence after the war. General Józef Haller, the commander of the Second Brigade of the Polish Legion, switched sides in late 1917, and via Murmansk took part of his troops to France, where he created the Blue Army. It was joined by several thousand Polish volunteers from the United States. It fought valiantly on the French front in 1917 and 1918.

The Polish Army was recreated in 1918 from elements of the three separate Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Prussian armies, and armed with equipment left following World War I. The force expanded during the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1922 to nearly 800,000 men, but then was reduced when peace was reestablished.

The communist-aligned Polish military formation was the People's Army of Poland, formed in the Soviet Union and partially integrated with Red Army formations. It became the core of the armed forces of post-war Poland. It was known officially as the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland from 1945 to 1952 (the same as the current name), and Armed Forces of People's Republic of Poland from 1952 to 1990, reflecting the country's name change from Republic of Poland to People's Republic of Poland.

The first postwar Minister of National Defence was Marszałek PolskiMichał Rola-Żymierski, promoted by Stalin's order to the rank of Marshal of Poland on 3 May 1945. However, Michta writes that while the 'army was formally under Zymierski's command until 1949, it was ultimately controlled by two Soviet officers, Generals Korczyc and Poplawski.'[9] From 1949 to 1956 the Polish armed forces were under the command of Zymierski's successor as Minister of National Defense, Marshal of the Soviet UnionKonstantin Rokossovsky, who was given the additional title Marshal of Poland. Rokossovsky was succeeded by Marian Spychalski, who was released from prison to take the post. The People's Army of Poland was prepared to defend the country against a possible new invasion from the West (based on the plan by Stefan Mossor). It was increasingly tied into the Soviet structures. This process was however stopped in the aftermath of the Polish October in 1956, however, and brigades and regiments began to be formed in the engineering, artillery and communications arms.

1954 would see the Air Force and the Air Defense Forces merged into the Polish Air and National Air Defense Forces, a process that would last till 1962 (this would happen again in 1990).

After the war the Polish Army was reorganized into six (later seven) military districts. These were the Warsaw Military District, headquarters (HQ) in Warsaw, the Lublin Military District, HQ in Lublin, the Kraków Military District, HQ in Kraków, the Łódź Military District, HQ in Lodz, the Poznań Military District, HQ in Poznan, the Pomeranian Military District, HQ in Torun, and the Silesian Military District, HQ in Katowice, created in autumn 1945. They were later reduced to four, then three and later into the two military districts active as of 2011.

A new joint operational headquarters, the Dowodztwo Operacyjne (DO) was planned to declare its initial operating capability on 1 January 2005, and full operational capability on 1 July 2005.[16] The DO was created on 22 October 2003, with the first officers being assigned in the second quarter of 2004. Most of the headquarters' 110 military staff were planned to be transferred from the 1st Mechanised Corps headquartered at Bydgoszcz, which was disbanded in 2004.

Formerly organised according to Warsaw Pact standards, the armed forces are currently being reorganised according to NATO standards. 'Eagle Guardian' is apparently the NATO planning designation for contingency plans to deploy and defend Poland and the Baltic States.[17] Poland is also playing an increasingly larger role as a major European peacekeeping power in the world through various UN peacekeeping actions, and cooperation with neighbouring nations through multinational formations and units such as the Multinational Corps Northeast and POLUKRBAT. As of 1 January 2010, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland have transitioned to a completely contract-based manpower supply system.

On 10 April 2010 a Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashed near Smolensk, Russia while in transit to a ceremony commemorating the Katyn massacre. On board the plane were the President (Commander-in-Chief), the Chief of Staff, all four Branch Commanders of the Polish Military, and a number of other military officials; all were killed. However, the Minister of Defense stayed in Warsaw, avoiding the crash in the process.

As of 2011, the Armed Forces are in the middle of a long-term modernisation programme. Immediate plans involve new anti-aircraft missile systems, a Lead-In Fighter Trainer (LIFT) aircraft, medium transport and combat helicopters, a submarine and self-propelled howitzers. However, predictions suggest that the budget might not cope with the need to replace ageing equipment,[27] since several programs such as acqcuisition two air-to-air refueling tankers or seven multirole corvettes have been already postponed or completely cancelled.

The Polish Armed Forces are the only military entity in the world to use a two-finger salute which is only used while wearing a hat (it refers to the fact that the salute is given to the emblem itself) with the emblem of the Polish eagle, such as military hat rogatywka. The salute is performed with the middle and index fingers extended and touching each other, while the ring and little fingers are bent and touched by the thumb. The tips of the middle and index fingers touch the peak of the cap, two fingers supposedly meaning honour and fatherland (Honor i Ojczyzna).